Title- Future (Part 1/6)

Rating – PG-13 or T for language

Pairing- Lee/Kara, a tiny bit of Helo/Boomer

Spoilers- Seasons 1 and 2 (however, the spoilers are interspersed with lots stuff from my brain so… ;-)

Disclaimers- I don't own these characters and I am not making any profit off them. I'm just borrowing them for fun (well, maybe not the poor characters'...). ;)

Many thanks go to Audrey for the great beta:-)

Summary part 1- What happened to Starbuck, Helo and Boomer on Caprica?

Author's note: I have officially determined that fanfiction net sucks the big one. Uploading files here is such fun. What a piece of... (Grumble, grumble...)

Italics will indicate characters' thoughts because fanfiction netdoesn't like asterisks. (End of rant)

-Cylon Occupied Caprica-
Lieutenant Kara Thrace
Call Sign 'Starbuck'
First day on Caprica

Kara Thrace gazed at the city spread out before her for a moment, then sat down to wait. She was wounded, she had a friend to bring back with her, and she had no more fuel for the raider. So she found a place to leave the thing and tried to camouflage it as much as possible. Now she waited for Helo and the toaster to catch up. She'd given Helo the arrow before leaving the museum. He was a lot steadier on his feet than she was at the moment.

Resting her head on a tree behind her, she had no more refuge from her thoughts. A toaster. I was friends with a frakking toaster. She shook her head. Why be surprised? She had learned through hard experience that the only thing you could count on in life was for it to find some way to frak you. That was the way things went.

You either got used to it and went with the flow, or you died. Sometimes literally, sometimes not. She scrubbed her eyes and looked up to the sky –the abode of the Gods she wasn't even sure she believed in. You know, this whole thing might be easier if you didn't make it possible for us to feel.

Gods she was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She still hadn't learned.

As the three of them walked away from Caprica City the sun was setting in the distance, painting the sky with bright autumn hues. The only sound was the scrape of their feet against dirt. For obvious reasons, they had avoided the roads and continued hiking through the countryside until their progress slowed to the present crawl.

When she couldn't take anymore, she flung herself on the ground next to a tree. Helo came to sit beside her, slinging off his pack, while the toaster hovered in the background.

"You okay, Starbuck?" He asked, concerned. She didn't look up.

"Yeah, just wonderful." He helped her sit up. Damn, that hurt. Luckily, they'd managed some jury-rigged bandaging of her ribs a while ago, or she probably wouldn't have been able to stand at all. She smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. I just need to rest a little." Or rather, crying about it wasn't going to help any. He didn't seem reassured. She surveyed their surroundings.

The treeless hills and valleys on the outskirts of the city had given way to a progressively thicker forest, making progress more and more difficult. Now that they had finally stopped, Kara noticed that aside from the gathering darkness, the temperature had dropped significantly.

"We should find somewhere to stop for the night." She stated bluntly. Helo turned and gave her a look.

"Kara, I hate to have to say this, but I think this is pretty much it."

She snorted sarcastically. "Yeah, you know, I did figure that one out all by myself. But this particular clearing is pretty much in the open. We need to find somewhere less exposed, don't you think?"

The sarcasm earned her the finger while the rest of her comment had him looking around.

"I'll scout ahead a bit. You two stay here." He left before she could protest. Kara rolled her eyes, then turned to observe her silent companion.

"Have a seat, bitch." She said unctuously. The other sat. Yep, silence was just fine. She didn't really feel like talking to the thing just now anyway.

She had the gun up and ready the moment she heard the leaves rustling.

Helo stepped into the clearing, hands up. "Easy. It's just me." He jerked his head back the way he had come. "It gets a little thicker over there. It's the best I could find." He helped her to her feet, and it was his turn to roll his eyes as she shrugged off his help. "Right." He waved 'Sharon' on ahead of him. "After you." He said sarcastically, and they set out.

The sound of their movement through the trees and bushes seemed terribly loud to her ears, as did her harsh breathing. Okay, so she was having trouble keeping up and she should have accepted his help. She looked up at the sky. I swear you guys must really like proving me wrong. Ah, no disrespect intended of course. She grimaced. Wouldn't want to be struck by lightning or something.

Helo let himself fall back beside her and put his arm around her without being asked, helping support her weight. "Thanks." She said softly. He grinned back at her. Kara rolled her eyes. Men. She thought to herself.

"So tell me Helo. What the frak happened to you, anyways?"

"I survived." He shrugged. "I ran a lot. Managed not to get caught. Found some food and some radiation meds." Another shrug. Nothing more seemed to be forthcoming.

"And her?" She asked. "How'd she get into it? And what's this about her being pregnant?"

He stared ahead of them, towards 'Sharon', as he visibly considered his words. His answer, when it came, rocked her back on her feet.

"I didn't know she was a Cylon until later. And the child's mine."

"Frak." Frak. What did she say to that?

"Yeah… So how about we talk about something else?" His expression was stoic, unreadable.

She didn't have a clue what to say to him to make things better. Yep, no question about it, she really sucked at all that emotional stuff. And she was always good at chickening out. "What do you want to talk about?" She asked, accepting the change of subject. She still had a honking huge shipload of questions for him, but they could keep for later. Besides, she'd already skipped some choice bits about what happened with the fleet, so she figured it was only fair to return the favor.

Eventually the trees began to cluster together as the night around them came to full fruition. The air seemed to grow cold teeth as well, and so it was with mixed emotions that they stopped to rest. Then it started to rain.

"Frak." Helo looked towards Kara with concern in his eyes. "I was gonna build a fire..."

She shrugged. "It's okay. Let's just try and sleep a bit." He helped her as she gingerly found a moderately comfortable position to rest in. The pain in her side seemed to have gotten worse. Frak.

She closed her eyes, and to her surprise, sleep did come.

It was the unmistakable noise of footsteps which woke her. Opening one eye, she saw that it wasn't Helo or 'Sharon'. She couldn't see much else in the darkness. Her hand moved towards her gun and she shot to her feet, drawing her weapon and wincing at the pain in her chest.

Surprise shot through her as she saw the girl. She looked to be no more than twelve, really. Her eyes were wide and set deep above hollow dirt-smeared cheeks, and her hands clutched a tin can of food from their supplies. Her clothes were torn, her feet bare. There was fear in her eyes. She took a step back when Kara took a step forward.

"Um. Hey, kid."

At the sound of her voice, the girl ran off into the forest. Kara looked up at the sky again, sighing.

Okay, I already knew I suck at the touchy feely stuff. D'you have to rub it in?

"Frak." Kara walked over to Helo and shook him awake.

"Mmm?" He groaned sleepily.

She waved in the direction the girl had gone. "We have company –the thieving kind, not the dangerous kind. I think."

"Huh?" Helo was visibly confused by her monologue. She gestured towards him impatiently.

"Just stay put. I'll be right back." She limped into the forest.

No noise. No footprints. She looked around for any sign of a trail. She'd never been very good at this stuff –and what knowledge she had dated back to basic training at the academy. Frak.

Okay, what about going in a straight line? That might work. Yay Starbuck.

She set out.

She'd walked for a while (how long she didn't really know), when she heard noise behind her. She turned around quickly, drawing her gun.

Helo stepped into her line of sight, Sharon behind him. "Don't shoot. I come in peace." He seemed to be making quite an effort not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that I thought I'd come help you out. I mean, I wouldn't want you to become lost and never find the campsite again, now would I?"

"What the frak are you talking about? I was trailing someone…"

He was truly laughing now. "Well, never let it be said that there isn't something in the galaxy that the Great Starbuck isn't any good at-"

"What the – " She moved towards him threateningly.

He held his hands up, still laughing. "Well it's just this. You do know you were trailing in a real big circle, right?"

"What? That's bull-" She cut herself off. There was rustling in the forest all around them –the sound of many footsteps approaching. She and Helo drew back to back, guns drawn and at the ready.

And found themselves staring into the barrels of at least six guns, held by a motley assortment of young and old, graying and not, male and female, united by the hardness and despair in their eyes.

One of the new arrivals, a man, stepped forward.

"My name is Denn and you have six minutes to convince us you're not Cylons." He gazed harshly at them. "And may the gods help you if you fail."

After five minutes and fifty-three seconds, no one was convinced.

By tacit agreement Helo and Kara (their companion had required no convincing to keep its mouth shut) had described their life on the Galactica before the attacks and explained that they were stranded here, but had not mentioned the fleet or the fact that Kara had arrived on Caprica a short time ago. Or 'Sharon'.

No, mentioning Sharon was probably not a good idea.

Of course, they were kind of hoping their new buddies hadn't run into one of her twins yet.

"We came here because she was attacked and wounded." Helo pointed to Kara as he detailed their last day for the umpteenth time, his tone indicating his mounting impatience. "She got wounded fighting a Cylon in the city."

One of their new companions gestured towards 'Sharon'. "And her? She have a tongue? Vocal chords?"

"Yeah, I can talk, asshole." 'She' snarled back. "I just didn't want to talk to you."

All in all, not a bad tactic. Kara thought to herself. She'd had enough too. And she'd never been one to forego or over think the aggressive approach.

"And that's the end of it, boys and girls." Kara stated firmly, cutting into the conversation. "Look, either waste us or let us go. And make up your frakking minds fast 'cause I've got a night's sleep to finish if you ever decide to let me finish it. 'Kay? And if you're so frakking convinced already, then what are we doing arguing about it? I've got an afterlife to get to." She grimaced a smile at them. That seemed to put an end to the discussion.

The leader, Denn, waved several of the others a ways back while four stayed to watch the three of them, guns at the ready. They talked, gesturing wildly. They were still arguing as they walked back to face Kara and the others.

The leader shrugged, then spoke tiredly. "You can come with us. We won't shoot you." The despair was back. "Just in case you're human. There's been enough death. So much death." Suddenly he smiled, but without much humor. "'Course, you could decide we're Cylons and off us I suppose, but my guess is that's up to you." He scrubbed a hand tiredly through his oily hair, then waved them up. "Come on –assuming you want to."

After an hour's walk the terrain became more rocky and began to slope slightly upwards. Another hour or two saw the trees thin out. Beginning dawn lit the horizon.

Denn waved them all to a halt next to a rocky hill. He carefully lifted branches from the rock face, moving them aside. Kara realized at this point that it was a hidden entrance to a cave. Following the others inside, she took in her surroundings. The light from outside, along with the slight illumination from a tiny fire, allowed her to make out most of what was around her.

She froze. Forty or so desperate faces were looking towards her. Desperation, grief, and hunger stared out of sunken eyes that had seen too much hell. Eyes set above sunken cheeks in dirty, sallow faces. They were bodies wearing rags in lieu of clothes; skin and bone predominating over sparse flesh.

Despair.

Shocked, she turned back towards Helo just as Denn reached them, having rearranged the branches camouflaging the entrance. He nodded grimly, seeing their expressions.

"Friends, welcome to hell." He said sardonically.

Picking their way carefully, Helo, Kara and their companions moved deeper into the semi-darkness. A frail hand reached up as Denn passed by. "Son…"

He sank to his knees, holding the old woman's hand. "This is Sara, my mother." Looking up, he continued softly. "When the Cylons attacked, I tried to find her, but I didn't manage in time. She was captured, tortured, then released. She doesn't know what the Cylons wanted with her. No one does –what would the Cylons want with an eighty year-old former housewife? It's not like she had anything useful to tell them. But then, they never asked her any questions… Now she's dying." He stood abruptly, wiping tears away. "I'm sorry –I've got to go. I'll be back." He left, heading deeper into the cave, his henchmen from the forest fading into the darkness.

"Son…" The old woman was calling for him again. Kara looked around. The sick lay everywhere, surrounding them. "Denn…"

Kara looked around again. No help there. There was no help from anywhere, as this woman lay dying. She looked towards Helo, who looked back at her sadly. Not knowing what else to do, she knelt beside the woman, who turned tired eyes towards her. Helo and Sharon sat down on her other side. Taking a deep breath, Kara took her hand and tried to smile. The woman smiled back.

"My name's Kara." She said softly, not knowing what else to do.

"You know, you don't need to stay with me. I'll be fine." The woman told them some time later. For some reason, Kara had done most of the talking.

"It's okay. We don't exactly have anywhere to go, and I kind of have to nurse an injury myself, so…" Kara pointed to her ribs. The woman, Sara, smiled sadly.

"Can I ask you something, my dear?" Kara nodded.

"Sure."

"Do you have any family that survived?" Kara looked away.

"Bad question to ask?" Sara said softly. Kara sighed.

"I… I didn't have any family before. So no family after the attacks, either." The woman looked saddened by this. She nodded towards the back of the cave.

"I guess I'm the lucky one then." She said before being hit by a coughing fit.

Kara looked at her. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, I've still got my son." She coughed again. "He's actually a good man, you know. Despite what things might look like now. But what happened to the rest of his family –his wife and child, and then to me… I don't think he's been able to process it all yet. Or deal with it." She smiled that sad smile again. "I suppose we all deal with grief in different ways." She patted Kara's hand. Kara looked away.

"Yeah, I guess so." She said softly. After a few moments of silence, Sara resumed her quiet monologue.

"Ten years ago, when my husband died, I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to go on." She wiped tears away from her eyes. "I was all alone, my children were gone, and the gods had taken my husband. He was my life. I don't know how I went on, but I did. My children did help, too."

"I'm sorry." Kara said. What else could she say?

"The point is though, that there was always something missing. A part of me." She paused. "But now, now I'm going to see him again. Soon." She turned her head towards Kara. "So you see, I'm pretty lucky." She smiled and coughed again. When she settled, her breathing was more raspy than before. She grasped Kara's hand harder as yet another coughing fit racked her body, almost on top of the last one.

Sara gazed around her in sorrow, visibly considering every person surrounding her, each in turn. Finally, it was Kara's turn.

"Kara?" Her breathing was becoming more labored by the minute.

"Yes?"

"This is crazy, I know, but –" Sara shook her head.

"But what?" Sara looked at her.

"We've just met. You hardly know me, but… But I can see." Kara frowned, confused.

"I always did, even though no one except my husband ever knew about it." She smiled. "It never was visions, you know, just a way of looking. At least I don't think so… I was almost never wrong." She paused to breathe before continuing. "You've survived the end of the world like we all have, and yet, it hasn't broken you." Kara looked away.

"Yeah, well, there's more to the story than what you think." She replied quietly. Sara shook her head, dismissing that as irrelevant.

"You're strong. That's one thing I see. But not all." Another pause. "Promise me something." Her grip tightened on Kara's hand.

"Promise what?"

"Promise me you'll help these people." Her breath rasped in, and out. "Promise me." She squeezed Kara's hand, tightly.

"I… I promise." Kara said. The old woman quieted after that, apparently satisfied.

Kara stayed with her until she died, some few hours later. She stayed after the old woman's chest had become still, as her hand became limp.

Finally, she couldn't take the silence anymore, and walked out of the cave.

Once outside she stood, looking at the trees surrounding her and the sunlight shining above her. "I promise." She said softly, and nodded.

"Starbuck?" She turned when she heard Helo's voice behind her.

"You okay?" He asked. She nodded.

"I'm fine." She turned towards him. "Except I made a promise." He didn't say anything to that.

She swiped at her eyes. "So we're taking them with us." When he seemed to be about to argue, she cut him off almost viciously.

"Have you seen these people? I don't care how hard it is. I don't care what we have to do." She turned away again.

"When we leave, we're taking them with us."

Continued in part 2 :-)